MARTIN BARBRE

Martin Barbre, a corn grower in Illinois, serves as chairman of the Corn Board of the National Corn Growers Association, a farmer-led trade association with offices in St. Louis and Washington.

A farmer for more than four decades, Barbre joined NCGA in 1988. He is a partner, along with his son Brandon, in Chestin Farms, where he grows corn, white food grade corn, soybeans, seed soybeans, wheat, grain sorghum and alfalfa.

On the national level, Barbre chairs NCGA’s Allied Industry Council’s Executive Committee and Nominating Committee. Additionally, he serves on NCGA”s Association Relations Committee, as the alternate board member for the Maizall Alliance and represents NCGA on Monsanto’s Grower Advisory Committee. Previously, he has acted as the association’s delegate to the U.S. Grains Council and represented NCGA on the National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Advisory Board.

Previously, Barbre served on the Finance Committee and as an alternate for 25 x 25. He also chaired of the Biotechnology Working Group from 2006 to 2008 and co-chaired the 2012 Commodity Classic Committee. He has worked at the national level as a member of the Association Relations Committee and the NASCAR Advisory Committee.

At the state level, Barbre has served on the board of the Illinois Corn Growers Association, and was that organization’s president in 2005. He and his wife, Gayla, and their children reside in Carmi, Ill.

Founded in 1957, the National Corn Growers Association represents more than 42,000 dues-paying corn growers and the interests of more than 300,000 farmers who contribute through corn checkoff programs in their states. NCGA and its 48 affiliated state associations and checkoff organizations work together to help protect and advance corn growers’ interests.